Just hours before Ukraine’s unilateral ceasefire was set to begin at midnight, officials in Kyiv said Russia had launched fresh attacks, following a wave of strikes that killed at least 28 people in cities across the war-scarred country. Russian authorities had not reported any Ukrainian attacks several hours after the proposed truce was due to start. In southern Ukraine, however, officials in the Zaporizhzhia region said early this morning that Russian forces had struck local infrastructure. Both Russia and Ukraine…

In a decisive move, Russia has asserted that its forces will maintain their presence in Mali, continuing to support the military government amid escalating tensions with Tuareg separatists demanding their withdrawal. This announcement follows recent surprise attacks that led to the pullout of Russian troops from the strategically significant town of Kidal. Once a hub of military operations, Kidal saw the Russian Africa Corps paramilitary unit retreat after insurgent strikes propelled a swift change in control. The town had…

Russia has moved to tighten its crackdown on LGBTQ activism, with a court declaring the country’s leading LGBTQ rights group “extremist” — a ruling that effectively bans the organisation and exposes its supporters to prosecution. The decision marks the latest step in a years-long campaign against LGBTQ organisations, one that has intensified sharply since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and deepened an already forceful conservative shift. A court in Saint Petersburg sided with a case filed by the…

Fresh Russian strikes across Ukraine have killed at least six people, officials said today, with the deadliest attack hitting a residential building in the eastern city of Dnipro. "The Russians' tactics remain unchanged: attack drones, cruise missiles and a significant amount of ballistic missiles," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. "Most of the targets are ordinary infrastructure in cities. Residential buildings, energy facilities and businesses have been damaged," he said. In Dnipro, four people were killed and…

Russian oil has resumed flowing through the Ukrainian stretch of the Druzhba pipeline after a stoppage that lasted months, officials said, clearing the way for Hungary to drop its veto on a €90 billion EU loan Ukraine says it urgently needs. Since a Russian drone strike damaged the line in western Ukraine and cut off deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia, the Druzhba pipeline has stood at the centre of one of Europe’s most politically sensitive energy disputes. Hungarian oil group MOL said Ukraine had notified it that shipments…

Russian drones struck critical infrastructure at Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa overnight, in an attack that damaged key facilities but, according to early reports, caused no injuries. Berths, warehouses, railway infrastructure and facilities used by port operators were hit in the assault, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. A cargo ship was also caught in the attack, with Ukraine’s seaports authority saying a strike hit the vessel’s hold and sparked a fire. Preliminary…

Volodymyr Zelensky has denounced the loosening of restrictions on Russian oil, warning that revenue from those sales feeds Moscow’s war machine just as Washington moves to ease pressure on energy markets rattled by the conflict in the Middle East. "Every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war" and is used for devastating strikes on Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said in a post on X. Without naming the United States directly, the Ukrainian president’s remarks came after President Donald Trump's administration on Friday…

Ukraine widened its campaign against Russia’s energy infrastructure overnight, hitting several oil sites including two refineries in the Samara region and a Baltic Sea port used to ship petroleum products, according to Russian regional governors and a Ukrainian military official. In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have intensified strikes on Russian oil depots and refineries, targets seen as vital contributors to Moscow’s war financing. Some of those attacks have reached facilities located thousands of kilometres from the…

A fresh sanctions waiver from President Donald Trump’s administration will allow the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products already at sea for another month, the latest sign that Washington is trying to contain a sharp rise in energy costs. The Treasury Department issued the license just two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would not extend the waiver. Under the new measure, buyers may purchase oil and petroleum products loaded onto any vessel as of Friday, up to 12.01 am (5.01am) on 16…

Ukraine was hit by one of the war’s most devastating overnight assaults as a huge Russian drone and missile attack killed at least 19 people in cities across the country, more than four years after the invasion began and with efforts to halt the fighting still at a standstill. Explosions boomed across the capital through the night, while towering columns of black smoke rose over central Kyiv at first light. More than 100 people were injured in the strikes, which tore into apartment blocks while residents slept. "The impact…